(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus which performs an N-column printing for hardcopies of pictures that are received from outside sources, and a communication apparatus which provides data to the printing apparatus.
(2) Description of the Related Art
When a user prints data such as pictures and documents that are created by a PC (Personal Computer), the PC creates print data which has a printing page as a unit. FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of a picture which is targeted for printing by the printer. FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of print data that is created by the PC as the picture which is targeted for printing as shown in FIG. 1A. When printing the picture shown in FIG. 1A, for example, the picture is transformed into print data that is sectioned by a unit of pages as shown in FIG. 1B at the PC, and the print data is sent from the PC to the printer. The printer performs print processing based on the print data sent from the PC.
The prior method as described above, however, has often caused a waste of paper since printed matters with a good part of blank space on the last page are created when the last page has still much blank space left thereon.
The present invention has been devised in view of these circumstances. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus which reduces the blank space of a print sheet so as to use the print sheet efficiently, and to provide a communication apparatus which provides data to the printing apparatus.
The printing apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above-described object Is a printing apparatus for printing a plurality of pictures on a plurality of printing areas that are obtained by sectioning a print sheet. The printing apparatus of the present invention comprises the following units: a picture receiving unit operable to receive a plurality of pictures to be printed; a print setting input unit operable to receive, from a user, an input of a print setting for specifying a sectioning method; a printing unit operable to print the received pictures on print sheets according to the print setting; a print control unit operable to stand by for the reception of the pictures in the picture receiving unit, to control the printing unit so as to execute printing of the pictures when the pictures are received by the number which is printable in the predetermined printing areas, and to stand by again; and a paper forwarding control unit operable to temporarily stop paper forwarding of the print sheet while the print control unit is standing by. Accordingly, in the printing apparatus of the present invention, the paper forwarding control unit temporarily stops paper forwarding of the print sheet while the print control unit is standing by. Therefore, after printing on the predetermined area, for instance, the print sheet is not forwarded as long as it has a predetermined amount of blank space, and the print control unit stands by until a picture to be printed next has been received so that the printing continues from the position where the print sheet was stopped the last time when a picture to be printed next is received. Therefore, the printing area of the print sheet Is used without waste so that an N-column printing can be realized.
Also, the printing apparatus of the present invention is a printing apparatus for printing a plurality of pictures on a plurality of printing areas that are obtained by sectioning a print sheet. The printing apparatus of the present invention comprises the following units: a picture receiving unit operable to receive a plurality of pictures to be printed; a print setting input unit operable to receive, from a user, an input of a print setting for specifying a sectioning method; a printing unit operable to print the received pictures on print sheets according to the print setting; and a print control unit operable to have the printing unit stand by for printing the pictures until the pictures are received by the number corresponding to the number of printing areas that are obtained by sectioning a print sheet. Thus, in the printing apparatus of the present invention, the print control unit has the printing unit stand by for printing the pictures until the pictures are received by the number corresponding to the number of printing areas obtained by sectioning a print sheet. Therefore, the printing apparatus stands by for the printing until the pictures are received by the number to be located in all of the printing areas of the print sheet. Even in a case where a printing apparatus is a page printer, the received pictures can be N-column printed without producing wasted blank space on the print sheet.
The printing apparatus of the present invention is useful as a page printer such as a laser printer, and especially as a line printer such as an ink-Jet printer. The communication apparatus is useful as a printer connected to a PC and a PDA, and especially as a DTV and a set top box (STB).
As for the further information about the technical background of this application, Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-126812, filed Apr. 26, 2002, is incorporated herein by reference.